Experimental analysis of first flush of suspended solids and trace metals in a construction area

Abstract

Characteristics of urban stormwater runoff depend on the various land use types in a particular region. In this work, stormwater runoff samples were collected from a construction area using an automated sampler. The water samples were processed for suspended solids and subjected to chemical analysis for heavy metals such as Fe, Pb, and Zn using ICP-MS. Pollutographs of the pollutant loading and flow over time were analyzed for three separate events consisting of 68 samples. The concentrations of the chemical pollutants were found to have considerable variations among different events. The first flush phenomenon was studied for both suspended solids and heavy metals using the dimensionless curve analysis. © 2011 ASCE.